My mum and I are very, very close. Spending nearly two months in Australia this year was perfection. We got to hang out, connect and be a family without thinking of all the things that need to be crammed in if you have the pressure of a limited number of holiday days. My mum is also being treated for cancer. She is in the midst of a series of operations and treatments, all of which will hopefully end... 

So with Halloween upon us (well, it’s October), it became apparent that yet again the dry weather in Boulder had evaporated some of the wine in the fridge. Ahem. But I’ve been concerned about replenishing my bottle of white. I always go to the same store, and the people in there recognise me. I was kind of flattered because the same guy kept carding me, and you know what that’s all... 

NCIS is a great show. I adore Leroy Gibbs. But as a leader, he is a little lacking. He has too many rules. I reckon you only need three. All four of my children will tell you Mummy Rule Number One: Don’t stand on things with wheels. This rule came into being many years ago. Every time one of the kids has hurt themselves in any way resembling an encounter with a wheel-based object, I remind them... 

The youngest of my children has a stinging wit, a little (lot) beyond his years. He loves media content, and when combined with his photographic memory, can be confronting to those who don’t know him. Examples: Charlie only needed to hear the Beatles sing Maxwell’s Silver Hammer a couple of times before he knew it by heart. Of course, he loved the lyrics – especially about bringing... 

At one point this week I weighed in at exactly 10 pounds lighter than the weight I used to lie and say I was. Jed was shocked that I used to lie to the ski rental guy. “You could have been on the wrong ski calibration. You could have crashed.” I would rather have crashed than told him what my real weight was. I rationalise it this way: No way was I going to crash due to the skis, because... 

This week the boys and I headed down to Denver for our third year of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus. I admit that I truly look forward to the circus, and this year it’s back at the Denver Coliseum until October 9th which has the fantastic benefit of FREE parking. Add to that the fantastic kid ticket price of just $10 (see my link at the bottom of this post), and you’re getting... 

Four years ago I lived in Sydney, and throughout the warmer months I would walk three kilometres around the golf course in the middle of our suburb. I thought that was picturesque – and for suburban Sydney, it was. I also joined the gym there for a while, and used the equipment while watching tv shows on screens above my head. I did a little of that here as well, but fell off the wagon –... 

This week, men are being sent to their deaths. Yep, there was more than one, but most people are talking about just one man. Troy Davis. This man, convicted of killing an off-duty police officer, has had multiple stays of execution. But today he was supposed to go to his death – as the jury and courts decided he should. Now, I’ve said it before, so I’ll simply reiterate – I’m... 

What a great week! I hiked more, walked the dog just a little longer every day, and really have been enjoying this beautiful Colorado weather which is cooler in the mornings than it was just a week ago, making it perfect and crisp for an early morning hike on one of the many spectacular trails around where we live. Over the last year I’ve been introduced to different trails. There are hundreds... 

The Sydney Morning Herald has carried a story about yet another thing some power women believe are holding women back: the lack of acceptability of nannies in the Australian culture. It’s an easy conversation starter. And it’s a conversation ender – no group of women have the same issues, we are all different. It’s impossible to generalise. But yet again, we do. Indulge me... 

The thing that changes for me over the summer is an increase in television watching. I basically go from watching a maximum of an hour a day of hulu to watching a couple of hours of normal tv. That’s a big increase. Being in Sydney for a good portion of this summer, it was like being a kid in a candy store as far as tv was concerned. Ads were everywhere. As usual, some were fantastic; most were... 

It’s always the big question. What’s the secret? How do you do a diet program and lose weight, but still eat everything you really want to? How can I cheat? I’ve done weight loss stuff before. It’s worked before. It’s gone back on before. The roller coaster of weight gain and loss is something many of us are familiar with. When those numbers start going down you get excited...